Aberdeen v Dundee

Premier League, Pittodrie Stadium.

Prediction: Aberdeen 2 Dundee 1

Attendance prediction: 10,001



[video=youtube;nW0ACEOEq6w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW0ACEOEq6w&NR=1&feature=endscreen[/video]

 

Here is the (Aberdeen home game) Attendance Prediction League as it currently stands, with the number after each name representing the closest each person has come to predicting an attendance:

1) Johnny Rep.................277
2) Surreal Dance.............383
3) Pud………………………………505
4) MD 20/20...................571
5) Sunlini………………………….618
6) Psychosomatic............783
7) Bhoy From Brum………..800
8) MalteseMick................854
9) UserName.................2815
10) ER..........................23719

Please feel free to take make a prediction, whether you’ve done so already this season or not. All predictions to be in by five minutes before kick-off.

 

6900

 

9,167

 

10503

 

6969

 

9,457

 

8355

 

Att: 10,425

Physco looked to have played a blinder... but Cartman smashes it!

My guess was late and so so wrong!!!!!!!

 

Aye, that was a bad one, Pud, even by your lamentable standards. I can’t chastise you again this week, though, as my attention is drawn towards Eric Cartman – a new (and shared) enemy. He did really well, no two ways about it, but I suspect he’s played his hand too early. I always think it’s best to pace yourself with these things and feel confident that I’ll go from strength to strength after the turn of the year. I’ll be up to 2nd place by Christmas, perfectly poised to mount a challenge as we turn into the home straight. Flashy predictions are all very well, of course - and if the lad wants to showboat, that's fine - but this competition is about stamina and sustained excellence throughout the entire course of the season. I think Eric may come to regret his near flawless performance here today.


Edge, Tina, Eric Cartman – hello. It’s good to see new people taking a punt. All of you did exceptionally well – especially you, Tina. You’re clearly a natural.

Edge, you managed to knock ER out of the league, well done – and thanks. There is only room for twelve elite athletes on the leader board at any given time and if ER wants to gain re-admittance to this exclusive club then he'll need to come closer than your 3525. Same goes for anyone else, obviously. You are now officially one the twelve best people on this site – and, by extension, one of the twelve best people in the world - but I’m sure you knew this already.

Eric Cartman – a finely judged intervention, congratulations.



The League Table:

1) Eric Cartman...................78
2) Johnny Rep...................277
3) Surreal Dance...............383
4) Psychosomatic...............424
5) Pud………………………………...505
6) MD 20/20......................571
7) Sunlini…………………………....618
8) Bhoy From Brum…………....800
9) MalteseMick...................854
10) Fabulous Fabio..............968
11) Tina...........................3456
12) Edge…………………………....3525


Get Cartman.

 

Not bad win for your lot, could be heading for the champions league spot.

 

.

 

Well, I originally had us down to finish third, Eric, although this was dependent on Hearts functioning to their fullest capabilities and building on last season’s Scottish Cup win (and finishing second in the league). But their squad has been disemboweled and it’s not looking too smart on the financial front, either, and I’d be surprised to see them survive the season - but then I’ve been thinking this for a number of years. So, I think we’ll probably finish above Hearts.

I didn’t factor in Hibs, though, and I’m still waiting for Dundee Utd to come good. We’ll see. Then again, I thought there was only one Champions League place up for grabs next season? Or did I get that wrong? (Unless you were meaning that Aberdeen might win the league, of course, which would be a lovely thing to say. I’m sure that’s what you meant, in fact. You’re my new best friend.)

For the time being, however, I’m happy. Back in September, whilst predicting Aberdeen’s immediate future, I said to Johnny Rep – the poster you just replaced at the top of the prediction leader board, by the way (he’ll be gutted):

"....a nice wee cup win over Dunfermline in midweek, followed by the dismantling of Hibs at Pittodrie next weekend, and we’re all set for the October to end all Octobers. I see the face of God, Rep, and he is smiling upon us – for truly, we are the chosen people and this is our time. Cancel your appointments and mark October down as the start of The Great Age of Bliss."

It’s actually shocking how right I can be about stuff when I put my mind to it.

For the love of God - don't encourage him, Admiral.

 

Just checked and you right it is one place. Still a European spot should be your target.

 

No, winning the league should be our target, but I hear you.

Thanks for checking, though. I'm not sure I would know where to look, exactly, if I wanted to confirm such things. I only knew there was just the one place up for grabs as I saw someone on this site - Rebelbhoy, I think - mention it.

One place up for grabs is pretty paltry, though, and, given the apparently parlous state of Scottish football, I'm not sure why everything possible isn't done to help Celtic (in order to help Scottish football as a whole). For example: Celtic play away to Dundee Utd on Sunday the 4th of November and then play Barcelona at home on the Wednesday. They then play away to Aberdeen on Saturday the 17th of November and play Benfica away the following Tuesday. Well....I'd be more than happy to see both SPL games postponed/rearranged in order to give Celtic the best possible chance. For me, this stands to a greater reason, and November looks like a particularly brutal month for Celtic. I don't care what happens after their Champions League games - in fact, I'm delighted any time they lose to SPL opposition (good for the league) - but I do care that they do well in Europe, as should anyone with the best interests of Scottish football at heart (for just as long as we are all tied to the ghastly Champions League).

But then you never asked me about any of this, so I'll shut my face.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013%E2%80%9314_UEFA_Champions_League

The annoying thing is Scotland's results count towards our coefficient. What chance do we have.

 

I would never normally trust Wikipedia on anything, Eric, but I’m choosing to wholeheartedly do so this time as it conveniently confirms all of my worst suspicions and fears. Whilst paying lip-service to the development of the game, this (the “Champions” League) is nothing more than an excercise in pure greed, horribly rigged to stifle competition and consolidate power and money in the hands of the few. Tesco would approve of such a set-up.

But I digress.

What chance do Scottish teams have? Very little.

As a side note: I was interested to see Scotland fans wailing about the results against Serbia and Macedonia, seemingly of the opinion that Scotland "should beat" such teams. I wonder what they base this on – especially in the case of Serbia, although I seem to remember that Macedonia have drawn with England both home and away before? Anyway, I was happy enough with both results, yet punched myself in the throat when Gareth Bale did his stuff for Wales.

In summary: we're all doomed.

 

This isnae fair

I play every week (or at least every other one) and I was top of the table (and in line for that much coveted book token) and now I've been knocked off top spot by two johnny-come-latelies (latelys?).

This rather puts me in mind of those annoying quiz shows that seem to be ubiquitous on TV these days where a contestant answers a load of questions correctly, gets one wrong and someone with the IQ of a table leg gets one question about "how many top 10 hits has Britney Spears had?", guesses the answer correctly and walks away with the £10,000 prize while the poor sucker who answered all the previous questions and built up the jackpot walks away empty-handed.

'mon tae **** Anne Robinson!




ps The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's cover of The Theme from Shaft is fantastic

 

It’s a good point and something I’ve been worrying myself to death over. I can barely sleep. Imagine: someone doesn’t make a prediction all season long and then comes in on the last game and steals it? I’m thinking that would cut me in half, the sheer injustice of it all. I’m not sure I could even fake an “I don’t care, me, I’m simply too easy going to bother” approach. No, there needs to be a cut-off point. I think anyone who hasn’t made a prediction by the end of February, say, should be disallowed from doing so. We’re old school, Stereo, and we deserve some respect, yo.

I’m massaging your shoulders like a boxing coach, saying “hang in there, champ, keep fighting, the boy Cartman is there for the taking, jab jab jab, weak chin, take him.” (I’m sure this is what any good boxing coach would say.)

Yes! I hadn’t heard it before, but I looked it up and it’s another minor masterpiece. For sheer musical dexterity, however, I’m not sure that this can be beaten:

[video=youtube;sTIv8hP-UIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTIv8hP-UIA[/video]

Sure, they spend a couple of minutes mugging it up – fair enough, the punters seem to like it – but when they finally overlay five or so classic “pop” songs above the music of Handel....well, that sort of thing fully impresses me. They do this towards the end of the Life on Mars song I posted, of course, but only with three different songs being sung at the same time. This takes it to a new level of tweakmanship (I don’t know what this word means – if anything at all – but it felt apt).

Incidentally, the guy singing Life on Mars looks exactly like Sam Tyler, which is a pleasingly pointless coincidence, if you like that sort of thing. Which I do.